Loneliness and all-cause mortality in the United States
6 affiliations
- 1The Clive O. Callender Outcomes Research Center, Department of Surgery, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America
- 2Department of Epidemiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Alabama, United States of America
- 3Department of Hospital Medicine, Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center, Williamsburg, Virginia, United States of America
- 4Department of Internal Medicine, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America
- 5Department of Surgery, Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America
- 6Department of Psychiatry, New York Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Center & Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, United States of America
Abstract
Importance: Loneliness affects more than half of US adults and has been declared a public health epidemic, yet whether clinically documented loneliness independently predicts mortality across diverse populations remains unclear. Objective: To examine the association between clinically documented loneliness and all-cause mortality at 1, 3, and 5 years, overall and by sex, race and ethnicity, and age. Methods: We conducted a propensity score–matched retrospective cohort study using the TriNetX US Collaborative Network, comprising electronic health record data from 65 health care organizations. Adults aged 18–90 years with at least one clinical encounter between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2022, were eligible. Patients with a clinically documented diagnosis of loneliness were matched 1:1 (n = 28,944 per group) on age, sex, race and ethnicity, and 12 comorbidity domains to comparison patients with outpatient engagement and no loneliness diagnosis. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality at 1, 3, and 5 years. Between-group differences were assessed using risk differences, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, and Cox proportional hazards models, overall and across prespecified subgroups. Results: Among 57,888 matched adults (mean age, 55.4 years; 62.9% female), loneliness was associated with increased mortality at every horizon: 1-year hazard ratio (HR), 1.52 (95% CI, 1.40–1.66); 3-year HR, 1.35 (95% CI, 1.27–1.43); and 5-year HR, 1.29 (95% CI, 1.22–1.35). Absolute survival gaps widened from 1.57 to 2.82 percentage points. The largest 1-year relative excess occurred among male patients (HR, 1.85) and Hispanic patients (risk ratio, 2.33). Black patients had the greatest 3-year absolute gap (2.49 percentage points). Working-age adults showed sustained excess hazard across all windows (HR, 1.34–1.42), whereas older adults had the largest 1-year absolute gap (2.28 percentage points) with convergence by 5 years. Conclusion: Clinically documented loneliness was independently associated with increased all-cause mortality at 1, 3, and 5 years, with the burden varying by sex, race and ethnicity, and age. These findings identify loneliness as a measurable, independent mortality risk marker and suggest that routine screening and targeted psychosocial intervention warrant prospective evaluation.
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BibTeX
@article{akinyemi2026loneliness,
title = {{Loneliness and all-cause mortality in the United States}},
author = {Oluwasegun Akinyemi and Oluebubechukwu Eze and Mojisola Fasokun and Ifeoma Mba-Madubuike and Temitayo Ogundipe and Delia Singleton and Ayomide Ogunsakin and Samar Khalil and Kaelyn Gordon and Miriam Michael and Kakra Hughes and Temitope Ogundare},
journal = {PLOS One},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0354773},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0354773},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Loneliness and all-cause mortality in the United States
AU - Oluwasegun Akinyemi
AU - Oluebubechukwu Eze
AU - Mojisola Fasokun
AU - Ifeoma Mba-Madubuike
AU - Temitayo Ogundipe
AU - Delia Singleton
AU - Ayomide Ogunsakin
AU - Samar Khalil
AU - Kaelyn Gordon
AU - Miriam Michael
AU - Kakra Hughes
AU - Temitope Ogundare
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/25
JO - PLOS One
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0354773
UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0354773
AB - Importance: Loneliness affects more than half of US adults and has been declared a public health epidemic, yet whether clinically documented loneliness independently predicts mortality across diverse populations remains unclear. Objective: To examine the association between clinically documented loneliness and all-cause mortality at 1, 3, and 5 years, overall and by sex, race and ethnicity, and age. Methods: We conducted a propensity score–matched retrospective cohort study using the TriNetX US Collaborative Network, comprising electronic health record data from 65 health care organizations. Adults aged 18–90 years with at least one clinical encounter between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2022, were eligible. Patients with a clinically documented diagnosis of loneliness were matched 1:1 (n = 28,944 per group) on age, sex, race and ethnicity, and 12 comorbidity domains to comparison patients with outpatient engagement and no loneliness diagnosis. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality at 1, 3, and 5 years. Between-group differences were assessed using risk differences, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, and Cox proportional hazards models, overall and across prespecified subgroups. Results: Among 57,888 matched adults (mean age, 55.4 years; 62.9% female), loneliness was associated with increased mortality at every horizon: 1-year hazard ratio (HR), 1.52 (95% CI, 1.40–1.66); 3-year HR, 1.35 (95% CI, 1.27–1.43); and 5-year HR, 1.29 (95% CI, 1.22–1.35). Absolute survival gaps widened from 1.57 to 2.82 percentage points. The largest 1-year relative excess occurred among male patients (HR, 1.85) and Hispanic patients (risk ratio, 2.33). Black patients had the greatest 3-year absolute gap (2.49 percentage points). Working-age adults showed sustained excess hazard across all windows (HR, 1.34–1.42), whereas older adults had the largest 1-year absolute gap (2.28 percentage points) with convergence by 5 years. Conclusion: Clinically documented loneliness was independently associated with increased all-cause mortality at 1, 3, and 5 years, with the burden varying by sex, race and ethnicity, and age. These findings identify loneliness as a measurable, independent mortality risk marker and suggest that routine screening and targeted psychosocial intervention warrant prospective evaluation.
SN - 1932-6203
ER -